My sisters and brothers, once again, I extend a hearty welcome to all who have come from near and far to celebrate this Mass, anticipating the powerful graces that emanate from the heart and side of Christ as we pray for the respect and dignity of all human life. Today we are young, and dare I say, not so young. We are healthy and suffering from various maladies. We are full of life and energy, and we are tired. Together, we are everybody who values the precious gift of life that God has bestowed upon us and treasures its potential while being mindful of its fragility.

I also thank John Martignoni, Jim Pinto, and the Pro-Life team that coordinate this and other Pro-Life events during the year. Her Choice here in Birmingham and the many pro-life pregnancy centers throughout our diocese are powerful testaments to the gift of life over the forces of death. A special thanks for those connected with this essential and vital work.

Yes, our first reading gives us a clarion call: “Hear me, O coastlands, listen, O distant peoples. The Lord called me from birth, from my mother’s womb He gave me my name.” “Escúchenme, islas; pueblos lejanos, atièndanme. El Señor me llamó desde el vientre de mi madre; cuando aùn estaba yo en el seno materno, èl pronunciò mi nombre.” Yes, I was hidden for a while, but as His servant, by my very nature as a human being created in His image and likeness, I radiate His glory. He is the one who formed me in my mother’s womb and brought me into the light. From that fragile moment of conception, whether willed or unwilled, we belong not to science, not to ideology, not to party platforms or personal whims in unfettered freedom. We belong to an Other –– totally and completely. We belong to God, the Mystery, who destined that we should become part of the human family as He dreamed it in the beginning.

The prophet Isaiah continues: “For now the Lord has spoken who formed me as His servant from the womb...” “Ahora habla el Señor, el que me formò desde el seno materno …” “God is my strength.” “Mi Dios fue mi fuerza.”

Again, we gather to pray for a greater respect for life – the elimination of all threats against life, against the very fabric of humanity. Every sort of violence that is perpetrated against fellow human beings has no place in what we believe to be a more enlightened and civilized society. While we keep in mind threats against life of whatever sort, including against the most vulnerable in our society, it is the pernicious, unthinkable, and unconscionable threat against the unborn that commands our attention today. The bishops have deemed this the “preeminent” life issue and concern without dismissing or ignoring other anti-life problems we face today.

We are heartened that we may be nearing another turning point in our desire to promote the fullness of life to all with the forthcoming decision of the Supreme Court.

Today we pray for all who foster and promote life, all who dedicate their lives to eradicate the threats against life, and all who promote life. We must also pray – in a more intense way for a change of heart, a true conversion – for those who are opposed to life, those who labor in the abortion and anti-life industry or seek to advance it through policy or legislation, and those who just have no respect for it whatsoever.

The anti-life view is one that seeks to offer a solution to a perceived problem – to those in trouble. By so doing, they are, in effect, promoting the pregnancy as something fearful and dreaded (i.e., not joyful), seeking instead to eradicate the very face of God in our world. They are saying God has no place, even among the helpless and the most vulnerable. God – the Mystery – is viewed as a threat and must be eliminated. He must be “canceled,” to use today’s avant-garde term, because He doesn’t fit the narrative of one who’s secularly enlightened (i.e., where there is an “I” without a “you”).

We say, we cannot know the “I” without a “you” being present. I can know myself, because of a you, but to eliminate the “you,” I am left only to myself – the loneliness of myself to fend for myself without the gift of a community, brothers and sisters with whom we can walk together.

Of the feast days we celebrate during the Octave of Christmas – there’s the day of Christmas, the Nativity of Christ, the feast of St. Stephen, the feast of St. John the Evangelist, and then the Feast of the Holy Innocents. I’d like to reflect with you about that the Holy Innocents for a moment. There is a sermon given by a bishop in the early part of the 400s whose name is St. Quodvultdeus (“What God wants!”). He was bishop in northern Africa and then later in exile in Naples. He was a friend of St. Augustine. In his sermon, he recalls the moment when Herod hears of the birth of a newborn king in his territory. At first, he is charmed by the “wise men” in their claim and he tells them, “Come back and tell me where you found Him so I, too, may go and worship Him! Instead, he seethes at the prospect of one who would threaten him – though He didn’t come to take his place but to conquer the devil. He goes on to elucidate: “You (Herod) are not restrained by the love of weeping mothers or fathers mourning the deaths of their sons, nor by the cries and sobs of the children. You destroy those who are tiny in body because fear is destroying your heart. You imagine that if you accomplish your desire, you can prolong your own life, though you are seeking to kill Life Himself.” “Yet your throne is threatened by the source of grace – so small, yet so great – who is lying in the manger.” “But you, Herod, do not know this and disturbed and furious. While you vent your fury against the child, you are already paying Him homage, and do not know it.” In effect, Christ “makes of those as yet unable to speak fit witnesses to Himself.”

My friends, there are well in excess of 60 million deaths by abortion in this country since Roe v. Wade. We are here every year to witness to life – how precious it is; how we must cherish each one, not only to bring them to birth but to care for them, their mothers, and their families with this gift entrusted to them; how we must accompany those who are in difficulty; how we must respect the scientific discoveries that are confirming over and over again that life begins at conception and deserves to be protected at all costs. It places an even greater challenge upon us not only to seek to “cancel” this barbarous practice covered over with euphemisms and deceit but also to find ways to protect the unborn and children to foster their rightful place in the human family and society. At the same time, we must walk with those in need during this very vulnerable time of life.

Today, we pray for that grace to continue our journey to proclaim that life itself deserves all the protection we can muster. Like Mary who is the remarkable icon of a Mother, especially Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patroness of the Americas, who fosters life and God’s “yes” for humanity, we entrust ourselves and the Pro-Life movement under the mantle of Your protective care. For this life – this tiny life – notwithstanding how the child is conceived (willed or unwilled) in the wombs of women everywhere, is the very icon on Christ Himself.

Through our pro-life efforts may we protect and cherish all life, beginning first with the very right to life itself. May God bless you!